Very slow Windows log in

[sjvlad]

I am having problems with my Windows install. My computer boots up fine, goes through the splash screen fine, but then when it gets to the desktop it will hang for 2-3 minutes. If I move my mouse over the start button or the task bar it gives me the hourglass. I can access things directly on the desktop with no problems, but anything start-menu related I can not do until it's done thinking it's way through whatever it is it's doing.

I thought it was a virus and so since I haven't wiped my hard drive in a while I backed up the needed stuff (pics, music, WoW, etc ) and reformated that hard drive and reinstalled Windows. After just installing a couple drivers it's back to doing it again. Could this be a driver related issue? If so, what steps should I be taking to fix it?

 

[mechBgon]

1) have you scanned your new Windows installation for spyware and viruses yet? If not, here's a couple online scanners you could start with: F-Secure and Microsoft scanners. Even though it's a new Windows installation, it still could be infected if you ran any infected files from the previous one.

2) look in the Event Viewer logs and see if there's anything in there that seems like it could be related (Start > Run > compmgmt.msc > Event Viewer)

3) what version and service pack of Windows is it at? e.g. Windows XP Home Edition with Service Pack 1 or whatever

4) if you don't mind, download HijackThis, extract it to a permanent folder somewhere, run it, and have it generate a log. Paste the text from the log into this thread, it could reveal clues about what might be hanging up.

 

[sjvlad]

I ran multiple scanners before I reinstalled, but haven't since. I'll try this first and then bust out the HijackThis thingy and post that up here after that. Thanks for the help so far!

Edit: I have Windows XP Prof. SP2

 

[sjvlad]

I scanned through the Event log and did not see anything that looked out of the ordinary.

Here is my HijackThis report:

Logfile of HijackThis v1.99.1
Scan saved at 11:02:32 PM, on 12/21/2006
Platform: Windows XP SP2 (WinNT 5.01.2600)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v6.00 SP2 (6.00.2900.2180)

Running processes:
D:\WINDOWS\System32\smss.exe
D:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon.exe
D:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe
D:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe
D:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
D:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
D:\WINDOWS\Explorer.EXE
D:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe
D:\Program Files\QuickTime\qttask.exe
D:\Program Files\iTunes\iTunesHelper.exe
D:\WINDOWS\system32\nvsvc32.exe
D:\Program Files\iPod\bin\iPodService.exe
D:\WINDOWS\system32\wscntfy.exe
D:\WINDOWS\system32\wuauclt.exe
D:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe
D:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Desktop\HijackThis.exe

O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [QuickTime Task] "D:\Program Files\QuickTime\qttask.exe" -atboottime
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [iTunesHelper] "D:\Program Files\iTunes\iTunesHelper.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NvCplDaemon] RUNDLL32.EXE D:\WINDOWS\system32\NvCpl.dll,NvStartup
O9 - Extra button: Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - D:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Windows Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - D:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
O16 - DPF: {5ED80217-570B-4DA9-BF44-BE107C0EC166} (Windows Live Safety Center Base Module) - http://cdn.scan.safety.live.com/resource/download/scanner/wlscbase8460.cab
O16 - DPF: {9D190AE6-C81E-4039-8061-978EBAD10073} (F-Secure Online Scanner 3.0) - http://support.f-secure.com/ols/fscax.cab
O23 - Service: InstallDriver Table Manager (IDriverT) - Macrovision Corporation - D:\Program Files\Common Files\InstallShield\Driver\11\Intel 32\IDriverT.exe
O23 - Service: iPod Service - Apple Computer, Inc. - D:\Program Files\iPod\bin\iPodService.exe
O23 - Service: NVIDIA Display Driver Service (NVSvc) - NVIDIA Corporation - D:\WINDOWS\system32\nvsvc32.exe

 

[mechBgon]

1) Did you remove some entries, or is that how it came out?

2) Was Windows installed from a Microsoft hologram CD so there's no question about it being free of infection?

3) After Windows was installed, did you run any files that were left over from the previous installation? For example, I notice you already installed QuickTime, FireFox, and drivers... did you get those from a clean source like a direct download?

4) If any viruses were found by the online scanners, what viruses were they?

 

[sjvlad]

1) That's exactly how it printed, I just copy/pasted it over

2) It's holo stamped, so I'm hoping it's clean

3) I downloaded FireFox & drivers new from manufacturer's sites, and installed Quicktime from a backup, but it was after I had already noticed the slowdown problems, so it can't be the culptrit.

4) The scanners did find a couple things, but they were on my secondary HDD on files that hadn't be accessed by Windows, so that shouldn't be part of the problem, would it? I can't remember what the names of them were though

 

[btcomm1]

No, they shouldn't have.

You said you formatted, reinstalled windows, and then reinstalled some drivers then it came back? It does sound like possibly a driver issue then or possibly something wrong with the hardware you just installed the driver for. Do you remember what drivers in particular you installed when this started happening? You could do a system restore possibly back before any drivers were installed then install drivers 1 by 1 and see when the problem comes back.

 

[Lemon law]

Not saying i am right---but no one has asked about the amount of installed memory---but if you don't have enough memory--you get a slow boot---and you might look at the installed programs also---disabling them at start up to see if boot times reduce dramatically.

But doubling memory from 256 MB to 512MB and changing nothing else cured a very similar problem my wife's computer was having.

 

[sjvlad]

I normally have 2 gigs of memory, but am currently running at 1.

The strange thing it it seems to partially boot. I can load up programs on my desktop and diddle around with them. I can also right click and go to properties and change my backround/screensaver, etc. If I try anything with the Start menu or even something like ctrl+alt+del to bring up the processess it takes a long time before it'll let me do it.

On a side note, Windows does not play the opening generic music thing until after it's done thinking it's way through whatever it's doing.

 

[oOZo]

I looked over the HKLM from above and think your problem is the ituneshelper and associated programs.

When I loaded itunes on my system it added a significan delay in bootup time and I immediately removed it. If you remove all the itunes crap from HKLM itunes will still run once you manually open the program.

OZ

 

[sjvlad]

Hmm, I'll give this a try as soon as I get home from work.

On a side note, if I dont have any critical stuff being loaded with Windows, would it be ok to just have HKLM just remove everything from starting up at boot? Anything I want to run I can just manualy load up.

 

[sjvlad]

Ok, so I did a fresh install of Windows again. Reformated the drive that Windows sits on.

All I have installed currently are the latest drivers from NVidia and Creative (video/sound). It's still doing the very long startup. This is my newest HijackThis log:

Logfile of HijackThis v1.99.1
Scan saved at 4:43:10 PM, on 12/23/2006
Platform: Windows XP SP2 (WinNT 5.01.2600)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v6.00 SP2 (6.00.2900.2180)

Running processes:
D:\WINDOWS\System32\smss.exe
D:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon.exe
D:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe
D:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe
D:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
D:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
D:\WINDOWS\Explorer.EXE
D:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe
D:\WINDOWS\system32\nvsvc32.exe
D:\WINDOWS\system32\wscntfy.exe
D:\WINDOWS\system32\wuauclt.exe
D:\DOCUME~1\ADMINI~1\LOCALS~1\Temp\Temporary Directory 1 for HijackThis.zip\HijackThis.exe

O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NvCplDaemon] RUNDLL32.EXE D:\WINDOWS\system32\NvCpl.dll,NvStartup
O9 - Extra button: Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - D:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Windows Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - D:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
O23 - Service: NVIDIA Display Driver Service (NVSvc) - NVIDIA Corporation - D:\WINDOWS\system32\nvsvc32.exe



I can not figure out what the problem is >_<

 

[btcomm1]

Did the delay happen before you installed the Nvidia drivers? Did it happen before you installed the creative drivers? Or did it start after you installed the drivers for one of these things?

 

[mechBgon]

Also, did you install the drivers for the motherboard's chipset itself?

 

[Aleksandar]

the problem is the network card 100% shure try disableing it in bios or removing it if it is pci then boot just to try it out then try giving it an ip adress in network connections see if that works